Dr Tim Ray
Senior Lecturer in Knowledge & Innovation
You can email Dr Tim Ray directly; but for media enquiries please contact a member of The Open University's Media Relations team.
Research interests
My first seven years of post-doctoral research (1985-1992) had two core themes: (1) the relationship between technological change and competitiveness; and (2) the evaluation of British government initiatives to foster a more competitive IT industry through knowledge generation across industry and academia. At the time, Japan was stunning the world with its capacity to promote advanced manufacturing technology and set new standards for high-quality, high-reliability products; but outsiders typically knew little about what lay behind Japan’s public profile. My seven-year period working in Japan (1992-1999) provided a rare opportunity to better understand the processes that underpinned Japan’s miracle growth and subsequent stagnation. Along the way, I was helped by some influential figures. My Science and Technology Agency Fellowship (1992-1993) was directed by Professor Ikujiro Nonaka and I became closely involved with research for ‘The Knowledge-Creating Company’ (Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H., Oxford University Press, 1995), which has re-ignited international interest in the nature of tacit knowledge. At RIKEN, I worked on Japanese science policy and related matters under the direction of Professor Akito Arima, who later served as Japan’s Minister for Education. Since joining the Open University Business School in 1999, my research interests have focussed on 'knowing how to make a difference' - the practice of power - in different institutional contexts. This builds on my experience of Japan (as an instructive counterfactual to Anglo-Saxon practice) and has benefited greatly from collaboration with Professor Stewart Clegg at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Web links
Research student supervision
Publications
(2009) 'Rethinking Polanyi’s concept of tacit knowledge: From personal knowing to imagined institutions', Minerva, vol. 47, issue 1, pp. 75-92. Abstract
(2008) 'Rethinking Michael Polanyi's realism: from personal kowledge to intersubjectively viable communication', Prometheus, vol. 26, issue 3, pp. 241-257. Abstract
(2007) 'Can we make sense of knowledge management's tangible rainbow? A radical constructivist alternative', Prometheus, vol. 25, issue 2, pp. 161-185. Abstract
(2003) 'Power, rules of the game and the limits to knowledge management: lessons from Japan and Anglo-Saxon alarms', Prometheus, vol. 21, issue 1, Routledge, pp. 23-40. Abstract
(2001) 'Communication and context: collective tacit knowledge and practice in Japan's workplace ba', Creativity and Innovation Management, vol. 10, issue 3, pp. 154-164. Abstract
(1998) 'Japanese organizational knowledge creation in Anglo-American environments', Prometheus, vol. 16, issue 4, pp. 421-439.
(1995) 'Japan's use of collaborative research to build a computer industry: lessons for the UK?', Prometheus, vol. 13, issue 1, pp. 90-106.
(1990) 'Optical fibre communications: the formation of technological strategies in the UK and USA', International Journal of Technology Management, vol. 5, issue 1, pp. 71-88.
(1990) 'Transferring expert systems technology to potential users: a case-study of Alvey's Awareness Clubs', International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, vol. 3, issue 3, pp. 148-155.
(1988) 'Shooting at a moving target: how to time innovations to meet changing customer expectations', Strategic Direction, issue 38, pp. 22-23.
(2005) 'Managing Knowledge: an essential reader. 2nd edition', Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 368. Abstract
(2001) 'Managing knowledge: an essential reader', London, UK, Sage Publications Ltd. Abstract
(1986) 'Post-Innovation Performance: technological development and competition', Macmillan.
(2009) 'What does knowledge work do?', The Sage Handbook of Organizational Behavior, vol. II, London, Sage, pp. 53-67. Abstract
(2008) 'Japanese management', International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies, vol. 2, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage, pp. 731-735.
(2008) 'Tacit knowledge', International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies, vol. 4, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage, pp. 1503-1507.
(2006) 'Managing local practices in a networked world', Kornberger, M and Gudergan, S (eds) Only Connect: neat words, networks and identities, Oslo and Copenhagen: Kornberger, M and Gudergan, S (eds) (2006) Only Connect: Neat Words, Networks and Identities, Oslo and Copenhagen, Liber/CBS Press.
(2005) 'Making sense of managing knowledge', Managing knowledge: an essential reader (2nd ed.), London, Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 1-20. Abstract
(2005) 'Tacit knowing, communication and power: lessons from Japan?', Managing knowledge: an essential reader, London, UK, Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 319-347. Abstract
(2005) 'Human resource policies for knowledge work', Managing knowledge: an essential reader (2nd ed.), London, Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 199-221. Abstract
(2005) 'Managing knowledge in a global context', Managing knowledge : an essential reader, London, UK, Sage, pp. 368-389. Abstract
(2004) 'Japan as institutional counterfactual: knowledge, learning and power', Management knowledge and the new employee, London, UK, Ashgate. Abstract
(2003) 'A new look at dispersed leadership: power, knowledge and context', Leadership in organizations: current issues and key trends, London, Routledge, pp. 319-336. Abstract
(2001) 'Managing Japanese organizational knowledge creation: the difference', Managing knowledge: an essential reader, London, Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 102-117. Abstract
(2001) 'Strategic thinking and knowledge management', Managing knowledge: an essential reader, Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 122-138. Abstract
(2001) 'Managing knowledge in a global context', Little, SE, Quintas, P and Ray, TE (eds) Managing Knowledge: an essential reader, Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 368-389.
(2001) 'Collective tacit knowledge, boundaries and the limits to virtuality', Regionalising the knowledge economy, London, Regional Studies Association, pp. 70-73.
(2001) 'Managing knowledge in a new century', Managing knowledge: an essential reader, London, Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 1-14. Abstract
(1998) 'Collaborative research in Japan and the West', Hemmert, M and Oberländer, C (eds) Technology and Innovation in Japan: Policy and Management for the 21st Century, London, Routledge, pp. 151-169.
(1992) 'Alvey and the programmes beyond', Gabriel, J and Gessner, W (eds) VDI/VDE Technologlienzentrum Informationstechnik GmbH, Government Promotion of Microsystem Technology in Europe, International Working Papers No. 1, pp. 63-74.
(1992) 'Government policies for information technology', Cunningham, P and Barker, B (eds) World Technology Policies, Cartermill International, pp. 44-63.
(1989) 'Competition and the momentum of technical change', Frances, A and Tharakan, PKM (eds) The Competitiveness of European Industry, Thomson Learning, pp. 165-199.
(1996) 'Evaluation of the information engineering advanced technology programme', London, HMSO.
(1993) 'Government Sponsored Collaborative Research to Promote Information Technology: Japan's Challenge to the West?', Research Report, issue 32, Japan, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy, Science and Technology Agency.
(1993) 'Knowledge Creation in Japanese Organizations: Building the Dimensions of Competitive Advantage,', Research Report, issue 34, Japan, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy, Science and Technology Agency.
(1991) 'Evaluation of the Alvey programme for advanced information technology', London, HMSO.
(1987) 'Evaluation of the Alvey Programme: interim report', London, HMSO.
(2008) 'I did it my way: the impact of national culture on operational decision making by managers working overseas', British Academy of Management Conference, Harrogate, September.
(2006) 'Work-integrated learning, tacit knowing and power: eastern insights and western oversights?', World Association for Cooperative Education (WACE) Conference, Shanghai, China, 26-28 June.
(2005) 'Tacit knowing and power: lessons from Japan and China', British Academy of Management Conference, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, 13-15 September.
(2003) 'Who says what matters? Professional accounting, meaningful information and collective tacit knowledge', 7th Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference, Madrid, July.
(2002) 'Japan as a counterfactual: power, knowledge and rules of the game', European Critical Accounting Studies Conference, Leicester, July.
(2001) 'Collective tacit knowledge, technological innovation and the calm of constant creation: lessons from Japan', EUNIP (European Network on Industrial Policy) 5th International Conference, Vienna, November.
(2001) 'Communication & context: tacit knowledge tools and knowing in Japanese organizations', Managing Knowledge: Conversations and Critiques, Leicester University, April.
(2001) 'Cultural barriers to virtual co-location: distributed creativity in the information age', APROS (Asia-Pacific Researchers in Organization Studies): Organization Theory in Transition, Hong Kong, December.
(2001) 'Managing knowledge generation in Japanese organizations: the significance of tacit knowledge tools and knowing', The Future of Innovation Research, Eindhoven Centre for Innovation Studies, TU Eindhoven, September.
(2001) 'Managing knowledge generation in Japanese organizations: the significance of tacit knowledge tools and knowing, Nedorostova, Z.E. and Dologova, M. (eds),', Proceedings of the 14th International Conference, 'CS Online', Stara Lena, Vysoké Tatry, Slovak Republic, November, pp. 25-30.
(2000) 'Communication and context: managing knowledge creation in Japan and the west', 3rd Global Change Conference, Manchester, December, pp. 26.
(2000) 'Managing Anglo-Japanese knowledge-creation', Knowledge Management: Concepts and Controversies, Warwick, February.
(1996) 'The problems with Japanese collaborative research, Technology and Innovation in Japan', Workshop Series, Deutsches Instut für Japanstudien, Tokyo, 21 June.
(1993) 'The dynamics of inter-organisational knowledge creation: A case study of Japan's fifth generation computer systems project', International Workshop on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Innovation Based on the Creation, Diffusion and Exploitation of Organizational Knowledge, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy, Tsukuba Center for the Institutes, Japan, 22-23 March.
(1993) 'Government sponsored collaborative research for encouraging information technology: Differences between Britain and Japan', Research & Technology Planning Academy, Eighth Annual Learning Convention, Hitotsubashi University, 23-24 October.
(1991) 'Alvey and the programmes beyond', Workshop on Domestic and European RD&T Policies, 2nd International Conference on Micro, Electro, Opto, Mechanical systems and Components, Berlin.
(1988) 'Competition and the momentum of technical change', Symposium on Competitiveness, European Institute for Advanced Studies, Brussels, February.
(1995) 'Does the Japanese experience with collaborative research provide any lessons for Britain? The case of the computer industry', Science and Technology Journal, Science and Technology Agency, Japan, issue June, pp. 54-55.
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